As expected, James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” took the top spot on the weekend box office chart by quite a margin, but there are also four other Disney-branded films claiming spots in the Top 10.
Opening Weekend
“Avatar: The Way of Water” grossed $134 million over the weekend at at the U.S. box office, according to Box Office Mojo, which earned it a tie with “The Batman” for fifth highest debut gross for 2022.
By comparison, Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” grossed the second biggest opening for 2022 with $180 million.
Overseas, “Avatar: The Way of Water” did much better, with an international box office of $301 million, bringing the global total gross to a sizable $435 million.
The film cost at least $350 million to make, and has a huge marketing budget. Even Cameron has said the film needs to become one of the top-grossing releases in history to break even and justify its massive price tag.
But the huge Christmas holiday is coming up, and the film has no major competition for the next few weeks, so it should continue to be top box office, especially with the premium showings like IMAX and RealD 3D.
Cameron also released a thank you to those who saw the film this weekend:
Also Charting
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is not the only Disney-branded title sitting on the domestic box office Top 10.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” dropped from #1 to #3 with a weekend gross of $5,400,000, bringing the six week total to $418,991,185.
Disney Animation’s “Strange World” slips to #4 with a weekend gross of $2,200,000. The film didn’t do well opening weekend, and after four weeks, only has a $33,778,060 total gross. It hits Disney+ December 23, so I expect it to fall off the list by next week.
Searchlight Pictures holds two of the Top 10 spots with the dark comedy/horror film “The Menu” sliding from #4 to #5 with a $1,700,000 weekend gross, and a five-week total gross of $32,122,499.
The final spot is held by “Empire of Light,” which jumped from #21 to #10 with $235,000 weekend gross, and a two-week total of $471,821.
Did you go out to see a movie this weekend? What film did you see? Let us know in the comments.